EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 6: Nature Key Messages Ireland needs to prioritise actions to protect nature. The challenges facing vital pollinators such as bumblebees, and the extensive loss of the curlew as a breeding bird species, should be the alarm calls needed nationally to focus on the transformative changes required in how we value and protect nature. More engagement on nature protection across stakeholder groups is needed, together with a review of governance, with solutions fast-tracked at policy and regulatory levels to protect habitats and halt biodiversity loss. The challenges involved in protecting Ireland’s habitats and species are now more serious than ever and need urgent action. But nature can bounce back under the right conditions. Implementing national biodiversity policies, such as the National Biodiversity Action Plan, requires an increased level of collaboration and coordination across multiple sectors and the whole of society. This can also give rise to indirect co-benefits for other sectors and environmental issues such as climate change and water quality. Education, monitoring and citizen science initiatives are vital steps in protecting biodiversity. To promote more proactive and widespread engagement we need to continue to systematically survey habitats and species, track threats from invasive species and develop collaborative projects between scientists, farming sectors and the public. Regulatory aspects also need to be in place, with conservation plans for the management of Natura 2000 areas. 155